Miami Valley woman on a personal mission to teach others how to read

Miami Valley woman on a personal mission to teach others how to read (WKEF/WRGT)

MIAMI VALLEY, Ohio (WKEF/WRGT) - For some adults in the Miami Valley, simply reading a prescription can be challenging.

A place noticed that need and stepped up to help them, and there's a woman helping lead the charge who understands the power of literacy firsthand.

Sherre Colliers and many other volunteers at Brunner Literacy Center help others discover a special kind of power every day.

"I will tell you, right now, here at Brunner, we are servicing over 500 students," she said. "So that's one indication of the need."

"we help people, whether they're trying to get their GED, whether they're trying to get a certification, or we have people who come and say, 'I simply want to read a bedtime story to my grandchildren'," Colliers continued.

So each and every day, you'll find people at the center working toward that power. Collier helps recruit the volunteers who tutor, and it's a job she takes great pride in because she knows intimately why it matters.

"My father grew up a sharecropper in Mississippi and never went beyond the fifth grade and moved to Ohio and started his family," she said, "and when I was 12, I became his tutor helping him to read."

Those lessons brought them closer and elevated his confidence and pride, something she said tutors help others with; taking powerful steps and impacting more than just their students.